Let's Take Care of a Puppy!
by BiderSweet
Summary: Honoka encounters an unexpected surprise curled up next to her in bed; a puppy! How will everyone else react? What's going to happen to the little fur-ball? I'm sure everything will work out...probably. (Rated T because I can make something innocent like a story about a small animal slightly dirty. Relax, there is no bestiality in this but there will be yuri and plenty of it.)
1. Chapter 1

It was an early spring morning at Otonokizaka Academy. All of Muse was groggily gathered on top of its roof because their center had a very important announcement to make.

"What's going on? Why did you call everyone here at this time of day?", asked Umi with a yawn. Umi and broken sleep patterns don't go together very well.

"Yeah Honoka, it's not normal for you to be up at this hour.", commented Kotori.

"You'll never guess what I found in my bed this morning!"

"A pillow?", answered Rin (not sarcastically, actually.)

"Well yes, but that's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what are you talking about?", questioned Maki who was becoming impatient.

"I'm talking about...this!" Honoka pulled out a white mass of fluff from beneath her jacket and held it out for the whole world to see.

"It's a puppy!", exclaimed eight of the members simultaneously.

"Yup, it was snuggling under my blanket and woke me up."

"It's so cute! Almost as cute as Kayo-chin!", squealed Rin. To be almost as cute as Hanayo is a huge compliment because on Rin's scale of squee, Hanayo is at the peak.

"But how did it get in your room that's on the second floor?", wondered Eli.

"I dunno, but we have to keep him!"

"Absolutely not Honoka! It probably belongs to someone already and there is no way the school would allow us to keep a dog here."

"Come on, Umi-chan...I bet Kotori's mom could bend some of the rules for us"

"I-I kinda want to keep her too...", declared Hanayo who's not one to voice her opinion very often.

"I agree.", concurred Kotori.

"How about we vote on it?"

"Good idea Nozomi-chan! Let's vote! Whoever wants to keep the puppy, raise your hand!" Honoka's hand shot up immediately after she finished talking and so did most of the other members'. Even Eli shyly held her arm in the air. Only Umi and Maki were opposed.

"Yay, it's settled then! We're gonna keep the puppy!", celebrated all seven of the members who up-voted.

"I don't care what you guys do with the thing but don't expect me or Umi to help take care of it."

"Aw Maki-chan, don't be that way. I know that deep down inside you want a widdle puppy to cuddle wif."

"That 'widdle puppy' will grow up to be a big old dog. Then what?"

"Then you can cuddle with me instead!"

"Nico-chan!"

"What is it Maki-chawn?", teased Nico.

"What are you taking about?"

"You called my name just now so I was curious as to what you wanted."

"I just want you to shut up! You're embarrassing me..."

"But you're so adorable when you're embarrassed!"

"There you go again!"

Everyone was witnessing yet another one of the foolish lovers' fight. At first it was cute but now it had gotten kind of irritating, just like Nico's "Nico-Nico-Ni" thing, although, that was never appealing to begin with.

"You two, knock it off!" Umi's yelling caused the puppy to jump out of Honoka's arms. It scurried across the roof and headed straight towards the edge. There was a fence around it to prevent people from falling but petite puppies are certainly not people and they could fit right through the gap in the barricade.

Rin instinctively started chasing after the dog (which is ironic since it's usually the dog that chases the cat) and she caught it with a single pounce.

"Hooray! You're safe!" Rin was laying on the ground, holding the dog up above her. As luck would have it, Rin received an unexpected golden shower.

"Ew, ew, ew! It peed on me!"

She ran over to Hanayo with the puppy tucked under her arm and gave to her. Hanayo then returned it back to Honoka so she could get out a handkerchief to wipe off Rin's face.

"Oh no, Rin-chan! Let's go get you cleaned up."

Hanayo escorted her unfortunate friend to the bathroom to piss her off.

* * *

Meanwhile, the remainders (excluding Umi and Maki) started oogling over their newest team member. Nico and Kotori eventually coaxed the unbelievers into surrendering to the charm of the carnivorous beast.

In the middle of their petting session, Honoka brought up the gender of the dog.

"Hey you guys, is the puppy a boy or a girl?"

"That's a good question.", said Eli

"To find out, you need to flip it onto its back and look at...uh...that place...", explained Maki who had reddened cheeks. She trying to put the dog into the correct position.

"Wait!", halted Nozomi

"What?"

"Maki-chan, don't flip it over yet."

"Why not?"

"Because, I think it would be fun to do a poll to see what everyone's guesses are as to what it is."

"But we all know it's a dog Nozomi...", said Umi

"Silly Umi-chan, you know what I mean. We're gonna vote on what the puppy's sex is."

"Um, okay then...and don't say that work anymore."

"What word? Sex?"

"Yes, that word."

"Sex, sex ,sex ,sex, sexy, sex, sex.", repeated Nozomi, who's only goal was to make Umi blush fiercely.

"Stop it!"

Maki zoned that whole conversation out, stood the dog upright, and said, "I personally think it's a boy but that's just a wild guess."

"No way, it's too cute to be a boy! It has to be a girl!"

"But male and female dogs look basically the same, especially when they're young."

"Whatever Maki-chan, but I know that I'm right and you're wrong."

"I don't care what you think Nico-chan."

"Excuse me, I don't just think; I know!"

Umi gripped both Nico and Maki's shoulders and whispered with gritted teeth, "If you care about your own well-beings, you'd stop this nonsense this instant!"

The convicts gulped a gulp of fear and obeyed loyally like a dog would.

"I think it's a girl!", blurted Honoka.

"I think it might be a boy."

"But Kotori-chan, that's not a valid answer."

"Huh, why not Honoka-chan?"

"Because, it might be a boy or it might be a girl. You didn't pick a definite answer."

"Okay, I think it's a boy."

"Very good, you did it Kotori-chan!"

"Thanks...I guess? What about you Umi-chan?"

"I have no interest in this."

"Yes you do!"

"I do not, Honoka...but if I had to chose I'd say it's a boy. What about you Eli?"

"I'll go with a boy."

"Eli-chi! You're going with a boy!?"

"Yeah?...What's wrong with that?"

"I thought you were going (out) with me!"

"N-nozomi! That's not what I intended! Anyway, what's your guess?"

"I don't make guesses Eli-chi. I let the cards guide me." Nozomi pulled out her deck of tarot cards from out of nowhere (at least, that's what it looked like anyway) and did a reading. She drew a card with an angel blowing a horn. At the bottom it said, "Judgment".

"The puppy is a girl.", concluded Nozomi who seemed very confident in her answer.

"How can you tell from just that card?", asked Eli who was baffled at the way Nozomi got something out of the vague clue that the card provided.

"The angel is blowing a horn and Honoka picked 'girl' so it's a girl."

"What do I have to do with angels and horns Nozomi-chan?"

"You just seem like someone who would enjoy playing a trumpet."

"You're right! I would really love to play the trumpet!"

"Don't ever give Honoka a trumpet Nozomi! She'd blow into it all day and drive everyone crazy.", warned Umi.

Nozomi just giggled a bit and said, "Alright, so me, Honoka, Nico-chi, and Hanayo say girl and Maki, Umi, Eli-chi, and Kotori say boy. It's up to Rin to tip the scales.

* * *

"Ah, I'm all nice and fresh nyow!", cheered Rin as she barged through the rooftop door. The puppy was startled again but the group was able to keep it from escaping this time.

"Well speak of the devil."

"Who's a devil? I'm not a devil. I thought you were the devil Nico-chan."

"I'm not a devil either! I thought Maki-chan's comments were rude... Your's are even worse!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be mean...", apologized Rin while she pressed the tips of her two index fingers together.

"Forget that. Tell us, is the puppy a boy or a girl? It's totally a girl though, right? It has to be since it's so cute.", said Nico eagerly.

"Oh, um, I'm not sure."

"I know this is sort of stupid Rin but half of us think it's a boy and half think it's a girl so we're just waiting on your decision.", informed Maki.

Rin could feel the pressure in the air. Rin has a tendency to say absurd things when under pressure so her answer was, "Neither?"

"Seriously!? That's not even possible!", shouted Nico. Kotori covered the puppy's ears so it didn't get scared a third time.

"This is getting to be ridiculous. Give me the dog!", demanded Maki as she stole the dog out of Kotori's hands.

Everyone was looking at Maki with anticipating expressions as she unveiled the results.

* * *

"As much as I hate to admit that Nico-chan is right, the dog is in fact female."

"I knew it! I'm always right!"

"You're not always right since what you said right now was a lie."

"Be quiet Maki-chan! Let me bask in my victory for a while." Nico jumped for joy over and over again.

"Getting all excited over something like that? Combine that with your looks and you are the spitting image of a young child.", Maki stated while twirling her hair.

"Listen punk-"

"Do you two remember what we discussed earlier?", interrupted Umi with an overly cheerful face. This meant that she was about to snap.

"S-sorry", apologized the foolish lovers in unison.

"Now that we know it's a girl we need to name her!", said Honoka happily.

"I nominate Nozomi to do it since she's so good at naming things. She named us after all."

"Thanks Eli-chi, it would be my honor to. Let's see here..."

Nozomi dug out her cards again and revealed "The World".

"It's decided. Her name will be Lily."

"That's a great name Nozomi-chan!", complimented Hanayo.

"I know I shouldn't be questioning your methods but I'm curious as to how you got 'Lily' out of a card that says, 'The World'."

"Okay Eli-chi, I'll explain. You see, yuri (girl's love) makes the world go round. 'Yuri' can be translated as 'Lily' which I believe is a more suitable name for her."

"I see... That's quite the explanation you've got there Nozomi. You never seize to amaze me."

"You're amazing too, Eli-chi."

"Aw, you're so sweet!"

All of this airborne love caused Nico's eyebrows to twitch.

"Could you guys keep the flirting to a minimum please? You're starting to sound like RinPana!"

"Is that a problem Nico-chi?"

"Not really, but it's kind of annoying."

Nozomi whipped the "death" card out of her deck like a cowboy drawing a pistol out of a holster in a wild west gunfight. She pointed the card directly at Nico's head.

"That's very hypocritical of you to say Nico-chi. I advise you to end this now."

"Fine, but next time I won't let you off the hook that easily."

Nozomi ignored her. She didn't have time for Nico's shenanigans. Instead, Nozomi brought up the fact that the puppy's breed was currently unknown. Everyone then focused their eyes on Maki.

"W-why are you all staring at me?"

"Because Maki-chan knows everything... Well, at least she thinks she does." That last sentence was mumbled but Maki was able to decipher it.

"What was that Nico-chan? Did you say something?", said Maki in a threatening tone.

"Nope, nothing at all.", said Nico innocently.

"Anyway, if you guys are thinking that I know what kind of dog this is then you're out of luck. For all I know, she's a mut."

Said "mut" barked and growled at Maki, as if she knew that Maki just insulted her. Perhaps Lily can understand human speech?

* * *

Hanayo offered to take a picture of Lily and post it on a popular website where other users ask and answer questions. She'd ask, "What kind of dog is this?" Lily was a white, medium sized dog with a thick, curled, bushy tail. Nobody present could pinpoint the exact breed though.

Everyone else thought that putting the picture on the web was a clever course of action as well. Nico insisted to be in the picture so she held Lily while Hanayo snapped a photo with her yellow phone that had an over-sized camera lens.

"I guess all we can do is wait. This would be a good time to squeeze in some practice.", said Umi.

"But Umi-chan, we have Lily here... I know! I'll just play with her while the eight of you dance and stuff."

"Not happening Honoka."

"Fine, then we'll teach Lily to dance with us!"

"Animals don't dance."

"Yes they do. Ever been on YouTube?"

Suddenly Hanayo's phone started vibrating and Muse (and Lily) gathered around it like Hanayo was opening the golden box of honor student scouting cards.

"A reply? Already?", said Kotori, surprised.

"Oh, sorry, that's not-"

"Don't tell me...they have apps for those 'massage tools' too!?", blurted Nico.

Everyone blushed profusely, except for Rin and Honoka who tilted their heads in confusion. Maki karate chopped Nico's head and it left a steamy bump.

"Ah, n-no, that's not what that's for!", stuttered Hanayo bashfully. "I-it's an alarm that I set to let me know that I need to feed the alpacas soon, eheheh... Sorry for the misunderstanding."

Hanayo checked the Q&amp;A website shortly after that incident just for the heck of it and found that there was a reply to their question. Hanayo read it out loud, "That dog is a Kishu. They are similar to the Shiba Inu. The animal handling your Kishu (referring to Nico) is called an 'imp'. Imps are a hazard to society and must be terminated immediately."

"What the hell!? How rude! How dare someone compare me to an animal!"

"Technically we're all animals Nico-chan."

"I don't wanna hear it Maki chan!"

Umi didn't bother to confront the couple in conflict because she had something more serious to say.

"The bell's going to ring! What are we going to do about the puppy?"

They all looked to each other hoping that someone had a solution. Lily just wagged her tail in general delight.

"I could keep her in my bag until school's over.", offered Honoka.

"You can't!", objected Umi

"I'm gonna have to. It seems that she's the most comfortable around me."

Umi hesitated for a bit but she gave Honoka permission. With everything decided, the girls went to class. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

**[Afterword]**

"Puppies?...Puppies!? Are you out of your mind BiderSweet!? It's all about the cats! Where are the kitties!? Heck, where's my NicoMaki fic!?" Well fellow readers, contrary to popular opinion, I'm on team doggy! (Go watch/read Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san; like, right now if you haven't already! That's where "team doggy" came from.) Also, don't worry. Your NicoMaki fic is in development. It's gonna be about School Idol Festival. (Like Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, I suggest you go check that out too. It's a mobile, rhythm game for both android and apple devices. Warning: It's free-to-play but extremely addicting.) I bear some more good news (at least it's good news if you liked this story): This is an ongoing story. I won't give details as to how it is able to be ongoing but it will be and that's all that matters. (This has been a public service announcement brought to you by BiderSweet. Please continue your amazing support and have a nice day.)


	2. Chapter 2

"Good morning class! Today we are going to be dissecting Canis lupus familiaris offspring!"

"Sensei, what's a cannabis familiar hot spring?" Honoka was doing her best to keep her mind off of Lily who seemed to stay more still the more that she was involved in the class discussions.

"That sounds like a fun vacation spot Kousaka-san but this is science class and for now, we need to focus on cutting open puppies and inspecting their organs."

Every student in the second year classroom was appalled. "What kind of sick joke is this?", thought most of the class. The ones most disturbed were Honoka, Umi, and Kotori who had a live puppy hidden in the room. The trio imagined their teacher sacrificing Lily on an alter in the front of the classroom with a scalpel in hand.

Then Umi had a wild thought, "What if the teacher already knows that we have a puppy in here and she's just saying that to mess with our heads? At least that would be better than dissecting a dog. Maybe we should just come clean. It might get us out of having to do this lab if she's being serious about this."

Kotori and Honoka started crying.

"Good job you two! Distract her!...Wait, I don't think they're crying on purpose!"

"I'm sorry sensei but I need to go to the bathroom!", yelled Honoka as she ran out of the room without permission.

"Um, I'm not feeling well. Can I go to the nurse's office?", asked Kotori.

"I'll go with her.", said Umi who grabbed Kotori's hand and lead her out of the door. They didn't get permission to leave either.

"... Alright kids, I guess we should start our lab now."

* * *

The two class delinquents sprinted down the hallway to meet up with Honoka somewhere. They were now huffing and puffing as they stopped near the restrooms. It seemed that Honoka actually had to use the bathroom because she finished washing her hands in there. She noticed Kotori and Umi standing outside of the open doorway and gave the "come here" hand signal. They responded to it and entered in.

"That was a close one!"

"Honoka, please keep those kinds of things to yourself. Too much information..."

"No Umi-chan, I meant that the teacher almost found out about Lily! She must have heard her say that we were going to dissect puppies and got scared. She became really restless and almost jumped out of my lap."

"Dogs can't understand something that complex! Anyway, this can't happen again. Let's be realistic here; what are we going to do with the dog?"

"I want to keep her Umi-chan!"

"We can't Honoka! Skipping class...As much as I wanted to today (for obvious reasons), we can't do it anymore."

"Maybe we can keep her without having to miss class."

"Kotori?" Umi was interested in Kotori's idea. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Umi got attached to the little hairball.

"We can keep her in a cage during school hours and all nine of us can take care of her throughout the day, like during lunch breaks or whenever one of us has a spare moment. I can convince my mom to let us keep her somewhere by telling her that it would just be like having another alpaca. Then when school is over someone can take her home for the night and bring her back the next day. On weekends we could pair up and have a sleepover or something."

"Wow, that might actually work Kotori-chan!", said Honoka who gave positive feedback to Kotori's suggestion.

"I'm impressed that you thought of something like that Kotori. It sounds good on paper but we'd need everyone else to agree to it and follow through."

"Alright Umi-chan, I'll bring it up during our practice after school."

"Okay, but what are we going to do until then? We can't just walk back into class like nothing happened.", said Umi.

"Let's go to the roof and sunbathe!", suggested Honoka.

"Since when did you turn into Eli?"

"What are you talking about Umi-chan?"

"Ah, never mind." Umi was getting bashful for saying something about a friend like that. Even though it was a harmless comment she still felt bad, like she was gossiping.

"Does Eli-chan sunbathe a lot?"

"How would I know Honoka!?"

"Sorry..."

"Shall we go to the roof?", said Kotori like the true diplomat that she is. She already had the puppy under her shirt and was walking towards the stairs so the other two followed suit.

* * *

"It's such a nice day out!", said Honoka with a bright smile on her face that reflected the sunshine above them.

"Wow, even for spring this is pretty warm weather. It was awfully chilly this morning. What a drastic difference, right Kotori?"

"I know you are trying to change the subject by bringing up the weather Umi-chan but I'm curious about why you said that Eli-chan likes to sunbathe just out of the blue."

"I never said that."

"You were implying it."

"I suppose I was but that's not important."

"Maybe not, but I want to talk about it. I'm assuming that you were fawning over her from a distance and noticed that she likes to stand by the window in the student council room."

"How do you know that!?"

"I noticed it too while I was admiring the girl I liked while you were admiring the girl you liked."

"You like Eli, Kotori? I never would have guessed that."

"Oh Umi-chan, you are horribly mistaken. I don't like Eli, you like Eli... and I like you."

"Woah, hold on a second. You like me!? Why?"

"Don't ask why. It doesn't matter. You like Eli-chan, not me."

"That's not true! Well, I did have a small crush on her at first but then I realized that it was just me looking up to someone I respect. She is very pretty though. Besides, I believe that her and Nozomi are together at the moment."

"If you don't like her then who do you like?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Don't steal my line Umi-chan. You are in love with someone. I can tell just by the look in your eyes. I was sure it was Eli but you're claiming that it's not. Who else could it be? This is a bit of a stretch but my next guess would be... Honoka-chan?"

Umi turned her head away and kept quiet. Both of them silently watched Honoka express her youth as she played with Lily and laughed in jubilance.

As Umi's eyes continued to follow Honoka's movements, Kotori's eyes shifted targets. She was now admiring the girl she likes while she was admiring the girl she likes. It was a bittersweet moment that she had felt before but this time it was the real deal and it made the sting hurt even more than it did back then. At the same time she was glad that Umi had a chance to fulfill her love because when Umi was happy, she was happy too. Surprisingly, there was no jealousy present, just a humble acceptance.

"So I was right, huh?"

"Yes... I'm sorry Kotori. If Honoka doesn't like me back then I'll go out with you if you want to. It's not like I hate you or anything. Quite the opposite actually."

"It's not fair to me if you did that. I don't want to be with someone if they don't love me back with all of their heart."

"I understand and again, I'm sorry. Anyway, I wonder what Honoka thinks of me."

"There's no reason for you to be sorry Umi-chan. You can't choose who to fall in love with but you can decide what to do next and I think you should tell her how you feel as soon as possible. Honoka does like you back, without a doubt, but she doesn't know it yet because she's been in love with you for a very long time so she got used to the feeling. It's up to you make her realize it. As much as you hate being on the offense, it will never happen if you expect her to confess to you first."

"You're absolutely right, but I don't have the confidence to do it yet."

"No, you have the confidence but you aren't confident in your confidence. Just this once I'll help you. You can thank me later."

"Okay, but why would you do that? I thought you liked me, remember?"

"It's because I like you that I'm helping you. It might not make sense to you but it makes perfect sense to me so I'll go with it."

"Alright, so what is your genius plan?"

Kotori hugged Umi tightly. Her eyes started watering up a little but she quickly snapped herself out of the sadness.

"Kotori, I appreciate the hug but how is this going to help me?"

"Shh, relax Umi-chan. Give it a minute, you'll see."

Though she was confused, Umi hugged Kotori back and waited for something to happen, whatever it was suppose to be.

They remained like this for a few seconds. As Kotori had expected, Honoka noticed the hug and asked to join in, along with Lily who was licking all of their faces.

"I love you guys so much! Lily does too!", exclaimed Honoka.

"We know. I love you too Honoka-chan and so does Umi-chan but I think she loves you in a different way than I do."

"What do you mean Kotori-chan?"

"I dunno, why don't you ask her about it?"

"Okay, Umi-chan, you love me differently? I don't get it. Please elaborate for me."

"I can barely understand it myself but I love you in a different way than say, your parents do or how Kotori does."

"Yeah, you lost me."

"I'll try to explain it differently then..."

Kotori smiled as she watched Umi get all embarrassed trying to find the right words to say. She thought it was the cutest thing, other than Lily who was at her side, curled up into a ball.

"... I love you like how your Mom and Dad love each other. I mean, not exactly but you get the idea, right?"

"I think so. My parents kiss each other and stuff so does that mean you want to do that with me too?"

"Uh, well, I guess you could say that..."

"Good, because I want to do that with you and Kotori-chan too."

Umi and Kotori were now wide-eyed at what Honoka said. Was this a duel confession?

"So you want to do that kind of stuff with both of us?", asked Kotori who did not anticipate this outcome.

"Uh-huh, is that okay with you Kotori-chan?"

"I've never thought about you like that Honoka-chan but I know that I love Umi-chan the same way that she loves you."

"If you love Umi-chan then wouldn't that mean you love who she loves too?"

"It doesn't work that way Honoka-chan..."

"Yeah, you can only be with one person regardless.", said Umi.

"Who said? I don't see anything wrong with three people who love each other being together."

"Society is already against two girls being together let alone three of them and I don't like Kotori in that way and she doesn't like you in that way either."

"I'm sorry Umi-chan but if you're trying to say that you want just us to be together then I can't do it."

"Why not?"

"Because Kotori-chan would be left out. As a leader, I can't let others feel like they don't belong. I love you Umi-chan but I also love Kotori-chan too so you either accept both of us or neither of us."

"You're putting both me and Kotori in a tough place here."

Kotori cleared her throat and gave Umi a short speech. "Umi-chan, I know I told you that I can't accept being in a relationship with someone if they don't fully love me back but something like this could work. In the end, I think we can all be satisfied. Maybe there are feelings deep inside of us that we don't know about yet. I say we give it a shot."

Umi gave it some thought and finally she answered, "Honoka, you always come up with the craziest ideas and this the most absurd one yet but I trust that you know what to do so I accept your offer." After Umi said this, Honoka held both Umi's and Kotori's hand. "Umi-chan, Kotori-chan; please take good care of me from now on!"

"I think we take care of you way too much already. You're such a handful."

Honoka and Kotori giggled at Umi's response. Lily barked and wagged her tail like she was laughing along with them.

"It's proof!", said Honoka with excitement.

"What's proof?", questioned Umi who was confused yet again.

"Lily can understand us!"

"Don't be ridiculous Honoka."

"But she barked while we were laughing. She also knew what the teacher said earlier."

"Those were just coincidences.", argued Umi.

"You never know Umi-chan. It wouldn't be the first time that something out of the ordinary happened today."

"I suppose you have a point there Kotori, but it's still illogical."

"Hey, we should celebrate our new relationship!"

"How would we do that Honoka-chan?"

"I could have my mom bake us a cake and we could put three candles in it and maybe we could buy each other presents."

"This isn't a birthday party.", said Umi flatly.

"I know, but it still sounds fun. Do you have any recommendations Umi-chan?"

"No, but Kotori probably does."

"Do you Kotori-chan?"

"Well, we could go on a date and do romantic things."

"N-no way! I'm not ready for that yet!"

"Not ready for what yet? Are you not ready to go on dates or are you not ready to do romantic things? What exactly are 'romantic things' anyway?", asked Honoka innocently.

"Do you two like embarrassing me for no reason!?" Umi was frustrated.

Kotori chuckled and Honoka joined in with a subtle look on her face that said, "I don't know what's going on but I'll just pretend I do."

Umi stomped her foot on the ground. "Enough playing around! We need to start preparing for the puppy. Do either of you have any supplies?"

"I think I might have an old cat cage at my house. Kotori-chan, Umi-chan; you should come home with me after we let everyone know what's going on and you can spend the night with me and Lily. You two can help me find some more things to get her set up for tomorrow."

"Sounds good Honoka-chan."

"That's fine with me."

"Awesome! I'll have my mom bake us a cake."

"You're so adamant about getting cake Honoka."

"Cake is good and so is our love!"

"Agreed!"

* * *

**Afterword**

Chapter 2 of my Love Live puppy story, everybody! What do you think? Like usual, I did not plan any of this. The love triangle-turned-threesome just happened. Their feelings aren't mutual at this point in time but I'm sure that Honoka can make things blossom. I think I'll focus on a specific pairing (or in this case, grouping) each chapter but I won't tell you which one is next because...suspense! (And I have no idea who to do next either).


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you guys doing here?", said Eli after opening the rooftop door with Nozomi at her side. Honoka, Kotori, and Umi were still up there, playing with the puppy and avoiding class. The sun was hanging in the middle of the sky at this point, indicating that it was about noon so a few hours had past since the three girls had worked out their love triangle.

"Oh, Eli-chan, Nozomi-chan! What're you doing her?" said Honoka, dodging the question Eli asked by making up her own.

"We received a report for three missing second-year students and the chairwoman had Nozomi and I look for them during our lunch break. It seems that we found them though. I can see you doing something like this Honoka, but I never expected that Umi and Kotori would do it too."

Eli didn't notice that Lily was there. She was hiding under Kotori's skirt while Kotori was seated on the ground. Lily tried her best to not look at Kotori's underwear because she was just too classy of a lady to do something so vulgar, but sometimes the view was unavoidable.

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean!?" Honoka was greatly offended by Eli's remark about how she is not surprised that Honoka would ditch school.

"It means that you three are in trouble."

"We're sorry Eli-chan but we can explain!", pleaded Kotori who stood up while holding Lily snuggly in her arms. Eli immediately saw the puppy and became furious.

"Why is the puppy here at school!? You're breaking two rules at once! This is not acceptable-" Nozomi started rubbing Eli's back to calm her down.

"Er-chi, serrtle dun." Nozomi was chewing away on a piece of bread

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Eli sighed and pinched the area between her eyebrows in frustration. Then she started shaking her head slightly as she said, "What am I going to do with you children...?"

"You could always let us off the hook."

"Honoka!", yelled Umi. She was shocked that Honoka said something so inappropriate in the context of this situation.

Eli slowly raised her head and responded, "Give me a good reason why I should do that."

"...um...uh..."

Honoka was at a loss for words for a while until she came up with a really lame excuse.

"Because she's so cute!" She pointed to Kotori and the puppy who were both making adorable faces. The exterior of Eli's ice cold heart began to melt, revealing its inner warmth after seeing such a remarkably sweet sight.

"Alright, you got me. I can't compete with those faces... Anyway, I don't care why you're up here or why you brought the puppy to school but I'll make you a deal. I'll send you guys home and tell the chairwoman that I found you crying in the bathroom because you were grieving over a lost friend from a different school or something."

"That's kinda morbid Eli-chi."

"Well, I can't just say that they were all sick because that sounds too sketchy, especially since none of them went to the infirmary."

"Good-point. Who knew that my wonderful Eli-chika was so cunning and devious.", whispered Nozomi into Eli's ear while hugging Eli from behind.

"Knock it off Nozomi!" Eli pushed Nozomi away with a luminescent blush on her face that she quickly tried to get rid of before confronting the other girls again.

"Ehem, back on topic here. I'll cover for you three but you need to promise me that you'll never bring the dog on school property ever again."

Honoka, Kotori, and even Umi wore a sullen expression. They didn't say anything.

"Is there a problem?", asked Eli.

Umi decided that she would explain things because she was the person that Eli was most likely to listen to.

"Um, Eli-senpai... We apologize for infringing on the rules and we won't bring the puppy here ever again if that's what you truly desire, but I wanted to let you know that Honoka, Kotori, and I came up with a plan for keeping her here during the school day and-"

"I don't want to hear it! No means no!", interrupted Eli.

Umi felt really stupid for trying to convince Eli and getting rejected in the process.

"Hold on Eli-chi, I wanna know what their plan is. It won't hurt to hear them out all the way, right? Maybe you'll change your mind.", said Nozomi with half-lidded eyes. Nozomi knew how to get Eli to give in. Just one look from her made Eli submit to just about anything Nozomi wanted her to do.

"Fine, but make it quick."

* * *

This time Kotori volunteered to talk since Umi was too upset to speak and Honoka was busy comforting her and repeating the phrase, "Shh no tears... only dreams now.", over and over again. Eli and Nozomi ignored Honoka and Umi's weird friend-shippy thing as they waited for Kotori to begin.

"The plan was that I get my mom to give us permission to keep the puppy at school during the day. I'm pretty sure she'll let us if I can make her believe that it would be a good learning experience for us, which it will be. If she gives us the okay we were thinking that the nine of us could pitch in throughout the school day to take care of her and play with her. Then someone could take her home at night. Don't worry about the supplies. Honoka has a cage to keep her in and all of us can help with providing her food and stuff. What do you say?"

Kotori was still holding the puppy when she was talking to Eli and Eli couldn't not look at Lily while Kotori was speaking. It made her momentarily forget all of the possible negative outcomes of Kotori's plan.

After Kotori was done, Nozomi answered on Eli's behalf before Eli could say anything.

"That's a promising plan Kotori. I think it will be effective if everyone works together. I approve but for now, you need to focus on getting permission. Until then, you'll have to keep the puppy at somebody's house.

"I'll talk to my mom about it tonight."

"Good. Now Eli-chi, do you have anything else to add?" There was that look again.

"I don't..."

"Okay, so that's that. You guys work out arrangements and Eli and I will talk to the others during practice about what will happen if your plan goes through. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." agreed Kotori.

"Alright, now skedaddle out of here you poor saps. I'll be praying for you and the family who lost their precious daughter." said Nozomi while winking.

Kotori winked back, gathered Umi and Honoka, and left. They planned on staying over at Honoka's house again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Eli had a bone to pick with Nozomi after they lied to the chairwomen about what happened to Honoka, Kotori, and Umi.

Once they walked out of the chairwoman's office, Eli pinned Nozomi to the wall and growled quietly, "You made me look like a big idiot in front of my juniors!"

"Oh, what's this!? Eli-chi is being the dominant one for a change!? I actually kinda like this side of you."

"Shut up! I'm mad at you!"

"Uh-oh, does that mean Eli-chi is going to punish me?" Nozomi was pushing all of Eli's buttons now.

"Come on, I'm being serious here. Please don't do stuff like that anymore..."

"Not even when we're alone?" said Nozomi with disappointment.

"You can when we're alone but that's it."

"Okay... it appears that we are alone right now so..."

"No w-" Nozomi cut Eli off with a passionate kiss. Normally Eli would've pulled away and scolded Nozomi by now but she was way too wound up to object to anything that Nozomi did.

Little did they know that Kotori's mom could hear everything that they were saying and doing. When some of the sounds became too suggestive, she went out into the hallway to break things up.

"Excuse me girls, I'm sorry to disrupt you but could you please take the location you are in into consideration before you act upon your feverish desires? Doing this at our school is prohibited. Anyway, lunch is almost over so I suggest that you two return to your classrooms. Thank you."

Eli and Nozomi were frozen solid for a moment before they leaped off of each other, but unfortunately for them, they were a bit too late. Kotori's mom already went back into her office and there they were, standing dumbstruck in an empty corridor. Eventually, they regained the ability of speech.

"Hey, Eli-chi?" said Nozomi stiffly.

"What?" Eli had the same tone of voice.

"Aren't you glad that she was the only one who saw?"

"I am not glad in any way whatsoever."

"So does that mean you wanted more people to see us?"

"Don't even start with that! Everything will be better if you just stop talking. Let's forget that that just happened and go back to class." Eli was pissed. She stormed away in the direction of their classroom but Nozomi caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her.

"What do you want!?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and that I love you..." It didn't happen often but Nozomi's feelings were a little bit hurt from Eli's harsh words. She didn't show it though.

Eli was a sucker for romantic lines like this. Her scowl turned into a faint smile.

"Fine, I forgive you, but please quit joking around so much. I can't handle the stress it causes."

"Okay Eli-chi, I respect your wishes. I'll only goof around once in a while. Also, I don't want to forget what happened earlier because you were so cute! That's all I'll be able to think about for the rest of the day."

"Stop it, you're embarrassing me!" Eli turned her head but Nozomi took this opportunity to kiss the cheek that Eli turned away. This made Eli look forward at Nozomi again.

"Let's get going Eli-chi. We don't wanna be late."

"Right..."

* * *

Nozomi took Eli's hand and the two speed-walked down the hallway to their classroom. They made it back just in time before their afternoon lessons started but even though their bodies were present, their minds were elsewhere. Later, the teacher called them out on it and Nico snickered at them from the other side of the room. They both gave her a dirty look but she just countered it with her ultra powerful (not really) "Nico-Nico-Ni" attack. It wasn't very effective.

When Eli and Nozomi were done getting lectured about the dangers of daydreaming, they went up to Nico, grabbed one of her arms each, picked her up into the air, and dragged her up to the roof like she was a little kid. She was throwing a tantrum the whole way.

They released her when they got all the way upstairs.

"Hey!? What was that all about!? You guys almost dislocated my shoulders!" yelled Nico in discontent.

"Quit being over dramatic Nico. You're fine." said Eli.

"It's just payback for laughing at us, Nico-chi. Karma is a strong force."

"No, it's you two that have a strong force!"

"We're here!", exclaimed Rin. Maki and Hanayo were with her too. Nico ran up to Maki and jumped into her arms and whined, "Eli and Nozomi are bullying me!"

"You probably deserved it." Maki was not amused and she let go of Nico.

* * *

Eli clapped her hands. "Now that everyone's here, I would like to make an announcement."

"Where are Honoka, Umi and Kotori?", asked Rin. She at least knew that 6 did not equal 9.

"They went home already. We're going to practice without them." informed Eli.

"Oh, okay."

"As I was saying, I have an announcement to make pertaining to the puppy." Eli explained the plan to them and everyone agreed to it.

"Now that that's settled, let's start our practice."

The girls worked hard today even though three of them were absent. They were all excited about the news of possibly having a pet puppy to play with at school so they were pumped up for practice. Right when they finished, Eli's phone rang.

"Hello?... Hi, Kotori... Okay... That's great... Uh huh... See you tomorrow... Bye."

"Was that Kotori-chan?" asked Hanayo.

"No, it was Santa Claus." said Nico sarcastically.

"Really!? I wanna talk to Santa-san too!" Maki still holds on to that childhood magic.

"Come on Maki-chan, you should know by now that-" Rin and Hanayo lunged at Nico and covered her mouth.

"Nico-chan, you can't taint her innocence!" said Hanayo."

"Yeah, what Kayo-chin said! That would be really bad!"

"Please, Maki-chan isn't innocent at all, at least not around me."

Maki was really confused and Eli had enough of this madness.

"Calm down you guys! That was Kotori just now. She said that she talked to her mom about the puppy. We have permission to keep it here but there are a few conditions. The first being that we can't tell anyone else about it. Secondly, we can't leave during the middle of class to take care of her. Then finally and most importantly, she cannot make any noise. She is naturally quiet as it is so there shouldn't be any issues. I assume that we can all follow these rules as well. We are to meet in the club room tomorrow before school starts to set up the cage that Honoka brings and come up with a schedule. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am!", said four of the girls simultaneously. Rin accidentally said, "Yes sir!"

"Excellent, you are free to go."

* * *

The first-years and Nico left together but Nozomi stayed behind with Eli.

"Eli-chi, wanna go get parfaits?"

"Hmm, after what happened today? Why should I?"

"Cuz you looove me!"

"... alright."

"Yay!"

"This is the last time you're getting away with your excuses though. Got it?"

"Whatever you say Eli-chi, but it's true. You looove me."

"Yes, I do."

"Say it right."

"I love you. Now please, don't make me say it again."

"I won't make you, but you'll probably want to say it anyway later on."

"Nozomi!"

"What?"

"Never mind. Can we have a nice quiet walk today?"

"Sure, anything for you Eli-chi!"

* * *

**Afterword**

Puppies sure do bring out the best in people. Personally, my life wouldn't be complete without my borador, Henry. I mentioned in the first chapter that Lily was a Kisha Inu. Here's some trivia: Kisha Inus are also commonly called Kisha Kens so if Lily was a boy, her name would be "Ken" on "Kenny".

Yup, that's about it as far as this afterword goes. Before I go, I'd like to say thank you to my kind readers and I hope that I was able to make your day a little bit brighter. See ya in the next chapter!


End file.
